PCMCIA wireless card: Does more money = better range?

growse · 26 Feb 2006 at 15:48

2 people in the house don't have wireless cards for their laptops, so I picked up a pair of (really) cheap ones. These work, and they're only 11Mbit (enough for general browsing), but unfortunately the range isn't very good. Given their price, I'm considering ditching them and recommending something better for the guys to get, but will there be any noticable improvement?

Currently I live in a 4-story house, and the AP is in the basement, but my IBM t42 laptop still picks the signal up on the top floor fine. The pcmcia ones have difficulty even on the ground floor.

Any recommendations for cards which do WPA, aren't too expensive, and have a good range?

No competitors - no matter how clever you think your disguise is.
-Berserker

Oops, didn't think they were classed as a competitor, the expression was just a turn of phrase, not a disguise attempt. Apologies.

MAllen · 26 Feb 2006 at 18:18

I have found that USB devices can be useful in a low signal situation. They can be stuck onto a longer USB lead and waved around like an aerial looking for the best reception.

"Net Stumbler" will also be very useful to you.

And there is also the cheaper option - just buy a WiFi bridge. You can then install this upstairs for the laptops to connect to. I set one of these up the other day for a customer who wanted to go up three floors. Makes life simple.

valerian · 26 Feb 2006 at 18:24

OC are knocking out the netgear 108mbps at £11ish, laughably which are £59.99 in *******, i have tried these and the rangemax equivalent, the signal strength is slightly better with the rangemax, if this manifests itself in range as well i do not know.
i have a rangemax 108mbps access point.

growse · 26 Feb 2006 at 20:07

Whilst I agree that a repeater would work, I shouldn't have to do this, as a decent wireless card will reach on the range. I'll take a look into the netgear one and see if it's any good...

MAllen · 26 Feb 2006 at 20:12

I suggested it 'cos it may end up cheaper than two new WiFi NICs.

Edit: I found a weird limitation with the Netgear one. It only worked with WEP and not WPA. Even though it was conencting to another Netgear box.

In my case it didn't matter as the customer's laptop was too old for WPA anyway.

growse · 26 Feb 2006 at 21:11

Ah, yes, WPA is a bit of a requirement here.

MAllen · 26 Feb 2006 at 21:37

growse said:
Ah, yes, WPA is a bit of a requirement here.

You should be able to get other Bridges that do WPA correctly. There was no explaination as to why this Netgear was so limited. :confused: